Burgess Hill Conservatives FUDGE the numbers

It's always very exciting when one of the political parties posts one of their newsletters through the door of the Burgess Hill Uncovered offices. The June edition of the Conservatives 'intouch' publication was full of them blowing their own trumpet following their clean sweep in the Victoria Ward, which of course included the election of ANSTY's Emily White (what were you thinking voters?)

There was the usual "We'll work hard for everyone, blah blah blah" nonsense as well as....
"It's very important that Councillors remain in touch with the local area"

Well here's a CRAZY idea for your Victoria Ward councillors, how about you spend a few minutes a week maintaining a blog between yourselves and let us know what you are all up to, and what's happening in our town. The latest on the Orion cinema perhaps and what you're doing for the people to ensure that Sainsbury stays away.

Now, the main reason for this blog entry, and this really does take the cake...

WOW! The Conservatives hold every seat on the town council. Incredible! Those that don't closely follow local politics would read this as being factual.

Here's some more 'facts' for you: All girls are silly, Haywards Heath is better than Burgess Hill, Councillors always act in the best interests of the public.

You're welcome!

Ducks are an endangered species

Confusion ahead this Saturday.

Taking place from 12pm-4pm is the 5th Burgess Hill Scout Group's annual Duck Fair at Janes Lane.

However, also taking place from 12pm-4pm is the West End Meadows Fun Day, an event organised by the town council. (information here)

This has to be a big blow for the Scouts. The Duck Fair is a fundraiser for the group, and their efforts may be compromised by the town council putting on a big event on the same day, at exactly the same time.

Was there any communication between the two groups? With big family events being rare in Burgess Hill, it's criminal that there are two taking place at the same time.

Why has this happened?

The Race To Be Mid-Sussex MP - Part One

The general election was finally announced by Gordon Brown on Tuesday.
On Thursday May 6th, the people of Mid Sussex will take to the polls as our Member of Parliament for the next term will be decided.

Will Nicholas Soames retain his seat or will Serena Tierney spring a surprise and win it for the Liberal Democrats? As for Labour's David Boot, he has as much chance of victory as what Burgess Hill does at winning a cleanest public toilet award.

In 2005, Nicholas Soames polled 23,765 to Tierney's 17,875. Have opinions changed over the last 5 years?

Soames certainly isn't the most active of MP's.
Since 2005 he's only voted on 682 out of 1285 issues, that's a voting percentage of 53.1%.
The Public Whip's voting record of Nicholas Soames MP.

Big Nic also has three paid roles outside of being an MP, more details here..
They Work For You.com's Nicholas Soames Profile

As the data seems to indicate, Soames could be a much harder working MP for Mid Sussex. Clearly he has some nice paying roles outside of Parliament, so why doesn't he stand down and concentrate on them and let Mid Sussex constituents have an MP that will really work hard for them, someone that doesn't take getting re elected for granted. This of course will not happen.

Is Serena Tierney a good enough challenger to pose Nicholas Soames a real threat?
She certainly appears in the media enough, championing local issues far more than big Nic, whilst she's getting her picture in the local papers, Nic isn't courting the media as much as he once did, perhaps he's too busy with his other jobs, or is it because Serena makes a better picture?

What could go against Serena and the Lib Dems is that nationally, many of the general public are sick of Gordon Brown. To ensure they get a new prime minister, people will vote Conservative. Interestingly though, David Cameron and co really have failed to put the boot in when Brown was down over the past six months. Labour are making enough noise to suggest that they are the best party to help the country recover from the economic crisis. (Hollow claims as it's going to get much much worse yet) If Brown can improve public perception of himself over the next month, then this could benefit Serena Tierney as there may be less urgency among voters to get Cameron in.

It will come down to those that vote with their local politician in mind, and those that vote to see a specific party and prime minister in power.

How do you think it will go locally and nationally?

SHOCK - Financial Irregularities at MSDC?

Hello loyal readers, having been struck down by illness for the best part of two weeks that resulted in my brain only being able to process 58 episodes of the Thundercats on DVD, I have returned to the blog to once again report on the highly exciting news coming out of Burgess Hill.

The March 25th edition of the Mid Sussex Times carried the headline 'Funds probe at council' Now I'm not much of a financial expert, and there was alot of information to digest but here's my take on the story, in a language that you'll hopfully understand.

It is alledged that the district council borrowed around £730k from Thornfield properties. Thornfied were the company that were going to make the town centre look all nice and sparkly until they went bust.

Cllr Paddy Henry claims the loan was taken out by MSDC to be used as part of the 2005-06 budget. Apparently this is illegal.

The council had put up land as 'security' against the loan if they were unable to pay it back. It is reported that the land the council offered up was part of the Cyprus Road car park and land at the Triangle leisure centre. The council ended up paying back £1,042,407 to Thornfield.

The district's auditor will now be going through the paperwork to see what the dealings were between MSDC and Thornfield.
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Dear o dear, it's one thing after another at MSDC. With local elections in 2011, the Conservative run council may once again be exposed.

What a HERO Paddy Henry is. He's the lone Labour representative on the district council, so what better way to make an impact than by pointing out all the wrong doings.

Randy Lawford's Public Toilet Letter

Burgess Hill's Randy Lawford had another letter published in the local papers last week, this time in the Mid-Sussex Leader. Randy had written to complain about the condition of the Martlets' public toilets.



Randy Lawford emailed Burgess Hill Uncovered to tell us that the best part of his letter had been edited out.

The missing passage was:
....and it was a real case of pick your poison when deciding which cubicle to use - on one hand, you could chose the one which featured a door that was embarrasingly unlockable, or on the other you could attempt to navigate the small lake that had developed on the floor, although such was its spread that you would be unable to do so without the use of a boat

Evidently the editor of these letters has missed a trick here, robbing the readers of some humour.

We'll certainly be keeping an eye out for Randy's letters in the future.